Towel, napkin, and drapery hanger.



J. A. OSTNIAN & B. A. ANDERSON.

TOWEL, NAPKIN, AND DRAPERY HANGER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13. 1916.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917'.

1 @753. a @2405 mm WIIED @TATFd PATENT @FFIQE.

JOHN ALBIN OSTMAN AND BROR ALGOT ANDERSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TOWEL, NAPKIN, AND DRAPERY HANGER.

Application filed November 13, 1916.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN A. OSTMAN and Bron A. ANDERSON, both subjects of the King of Sweden, and residents of Ohicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Towel, Napkin, and Drapery Hangers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to means for temporarily supporting napkins, towels, curtains and the like, with reference to a frequent operation of same in a convenient manner and without injury to the fabric engaged, as distinguished from spring clothes pins and other hangers adapted for other purposes.

The object of our invention is to provide a form of construction and method of operation adapted to grip and hold napkins, towels, delicate lace curtains and the like, operable to conveniently engage and to be conveniently released from the fabric which our hanger supports, with special reference to the purposes for which it has been adapted, as distinguished from other gripping or hanging devices not designed or adapted for the present purpose, and with this object in view our invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view of our device used as a curtain support and for that purpose provided with a curtain pole eye or loop.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a face view thereof.

Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the device provided with screw-engaging eyes adapting it to be attached to a table or wall for use as a napkin or towel holder.

Fig. 5 is a face view of same in engagement with a section of napkin or towel.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 5.

In the several views the grip portion in each form of construction shown consists of a lever 2 provided with a knuckle or hump 3 which partly enters an eye 4;, or presses into said eye, the engaged portion of the fabric 5 to be supported by the holder. The body portion of the holder is formed out of a piece of wire the ends of which meet at 6 in theform of two lugs 7 and 8 on Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Serial No. 131,110.

which loops 9 and 10 of the lever 2, also formed out of apiece of wire, are pivoted. On the axial lugs 7 and 8 is wound a spring 12 having one of its ends suitably secured to the axial portion 7 8 and the other end -11 looped about the lever near its axis, as shown. This spring is tensioned to normally hold the lever in operative position as in Figs. 1 to 6, the dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 6 showing the released or open position into which the lever is manually brought by the operator against the tension of the spring 12. From the lug 7 the wire of the body portion is bent upwardly to form-a part of a stationary jaw, or fork member 13; thence it is curved to form a loop portion 14 and from the loop portion 141 it extends down into a cooperative jaw, or fork portion 15 and the eye or loop 4 forming a part thereof. From the loop 4: the wire extends upwardly into a fork or jaw portion 16 which supplements the part 15. Another loop portion 17 is then formed which supplements 141, and, finally, an arm 18 supplementing 13 extends to the lug portion 8.

In Figs. 41, 5, and 6 the same construction is found with the exception that the loops 14 and 7 take the form of small loops 19 and 20 arranged at right angles to the plane of loops 14 and 17, and with the further exception that before the part 16 is formed another loop 21, below the loop 4, is formed for the reception of a screw or nail, loops 19, 20 and 21 serving to fasten the hanger to a wall or table while the loops 14 and 17 are adapted to engage a curtain rod or pole 22.

Between the stationary jaws, or fork portions, 15, 16 and 4 on the one side and 13 and 18 on the other, in Figs. 1 to 3, a comparatively large open space is provided so that a towel or napkin may be conveniently inserted, or inserted without fumbling, when the lever 2. is thrown back as in Figs. 2 and 6 where the lever is shown in dotted lines. By simply releasing the lever the fabric is engaged and held in a gentle, yet firm, manner and ina manner which ob viates the liability of tearing the part supported as in devices which require the use of both hands to separate or release the spring jaws, and the like, which hold the fabric. In the present construction one hand of the operator is free to take hold of the fabric,

which is completely released when the lever 2 is thrown back with the operators other 7 neath the top of a table.

hand. Figs. 1 and 2 show how lace curtains may be delicately hung and released in this manner and with far greater convenience and rapidity than where the usual pins are employed. A lace curtain may be released without injury and with the use of but one hand on the hanger device, as rapidly as a plurality of levers 2 may be momentarily swung back into dotted line position,

the other hand being always free to support the curtain against falling on the floor. The same is true in the towel and napkin form of construction shown in Figs. 4 to 6. In in serting the towel or napkin 5, especially in the more stably mounted form of Figs. l, 5 and 6, the hand need not touch the hanger at all, the inclined lower part of the hump 3 serving as an incline against which the lever may be forced back by simply pressing the napkin or towel against said incline. This is of particular importance in the use of the invention as a napkin holder under- The spring 12 need notbe heavy, its chief function being to hold the lever 2 in normal position without much force.

We claim as our invention A hanger formed out of a single length of wire for its body portion and a single length of wire for a lever portion, said body.

portion consisting of a pair of prongs with abutting pivot lugs thereon which constitute a fixed jaw member, and also consisting of a cooperative fixed jaw member formed with an eye therein and of suspension loops adapted to engage a fixed part to support said hanger, said lever or movable member portion pivoted on said lugs and provided with a projecting portion movable between said prongs into and out of the space between said fixed jaw members as a movable jaw to form together with said cooperative jaws a pair of gripping jaws engageable with a portion of fabric entered between said fixed jaws, and a spring normally holding said lever or movable member portion pressed against the eye in the cooperative fixed jaw member.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

JOHN ALBIN OSTMAN. BROR ALGOT ANDERSON.

. Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing" the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." 

